Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Ok, I heard an ad for this segment on NHL radio on Sirius/XM and I was unable to catch this segment but it got me thinking.

Here's what the host challenged: You are the GM of your favorite team for 1 hour in which you can make any ONE move, no strings attached. What would it be?

The host stipulated that it could be a front office move, a trade, a buyout, a signing, or whatever realistically possible and rational (so, no "I'd trade my 2015 7th round draft pick for Jonathan Toews" nonsense).

Which team would it be and what would you do?

After following the Blackhawks this postseason, and I was Bowman, I'd go against the grain and try to keep Sharp and get rid of.... Bickell and Crawford. Look, Bickell is the next Dave Bolland. Yeah, he's nice to have but he wasn't really visible. And with the emergence of Shaw, you don't need him. And Crawford may have two rings now but he's the most mediocre ring-winner I've seen. I'd trade Crawford and Bickell to Philly for one of their logjammed D prosects, a 2015 3rd round pick, and a conditional 2016 midround pick. The Blackhawks now have taken two nobody goaltenders and turned them into Stanley Cup champions (Niemi and Crawford). They can do the same with Raanta and Darling... or they could go out and sign Ramo or someone. Who really cares. It's plug and play.

As for my Wings? Yeesh. They need depth at forward and, imo, a top 4 defenseman. I think I'd do something rash like.... win the lottery again and try to steal Dougie Hamilton away from the Bruins. NHL Radio suggests that Edmonton could do this very thing but comon Dougie, Motown is better than Edmonton!

Monday, June 22, 2015

Per the Tampa Bay Lightning team page, former Denver head coach George Gwozdecky is moving on after spending two season with the Lightning.

Tampa Bay Lightning team release - Assistant Coach George Gwozdecky is leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning to pursue other opportunities, Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced today. Gwozdecky has been with the Lightning on head coach Jon Cooper's staff for two seasons, most recently helping the franchise to the 2015 Eastern Conference Championship and a berth in the Stanley Cup Final.

"Jon Cooper and I, along with the entire Lightning organization, would like to thank George and his family for giving us the past two years," said Yzerman upon making the announcement. "He helped turn a young, unproven team into the Eastern Conference Champions and we appreciate his professionalism and dedication."

Gwozdecky joined the Lightning on August 9, 2013 after serving as the head coach at the University of Denver for 19 seasons. At Denver, Gwozdecky won back-to-back national championships (2004, 2005) and was named National Coach of the Year twice (1993, 2005). He also served as head coach at Miami (OH) University for five seasons and his 593 collegiate wins as a head coach rank 11th all-time in the NCAA.

"I have fulfilled my obligation with the Tampa Bay Lightning and I am going to take some time away to consider my next career step," said Gwozdecky. "I would like to thank owner Jeff Vinik, GM Steve Yzerman, coach Jon Cooper and the entire Lightning staff for two very memorable years."

In two seasons with Gwozdecky as an assistant, the Lightning won 96 of 164 regular season games, making back-to-back playoff appearances. The team begins the 2015 offseason after losing the Stanley Cup Final in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks. En route to the Stanley Cup Final, the Lightning defeated the Detroit Red Wings, the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers

Thursday, June 11, 2015

The Phoenix Coyotes saga is really turning into a gong show. This is a huge Charlie foxtrot. Last night, the Glendale City Council voted to nullify the Gila River Arena lease agreement. Here's the release by from the Coyotes. At what point does the NHL pull the pin on the Coyotes and move the team to another city that might actually appreciate them? I just don't see an end to this mess.

GLENDALE -- The City Council of Glendale on Wednesday night voted, 5-2, to cancel its arena lease agreement with the Coyotes – a 15-year deal established in July of 2013.

After the vote, attorney Nicholas Wood said the team would file for injunctive relief and a temporary restraining order, and file a $200 million lawsuit against the City.

"What we have witnessed here tonight is possibly the most shameful exhibition of government I have ever witnessed," Coyotes Co-Owner, President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc said. "The citizens of Glendale should be very concerned about the government that they have leading them right now, because this was not appropriate… We have been absolutely wronged this evening by a group that is acting in incredibly bad faith."

He added: "Our view is the team will remain here, but the City is not acting in a business-friendly way and should be ashamed."

While the City Council meeting was taking place, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told Hockey Night in Canada viewers: "I'm not concerned about the Coyotes. If I lived in Glendale, I'd be concerned about my government."
LeBlanc said he was pleased by the number of Coyotes fans who attended the meeting and especially pleased by those who took the time to vocally support the team during the portion of the meeting designated for public comments.

"One thing that was illustrated tonight is that we have fantastic fans,” LeBlanc said. “God love them for coming back to this council chamber after all the times they’ve been in here over the years."

Monday, June 08, 2015

The NHL Rules Committee has recommended expanding the video review process. Obviously, the league's board of governors will have to sign off on it before it becomes law.

I think it's a step in the right direction, but I am not so sure I like the part where teams must have a time out available to have a coaches challenge.

Michael Russo, Russo's Rants -- Expanded Video Review: Coach's Challenge - The Committee recommends that a Coach's Challenge be adopted for expanded video review for goals that may have resulted from (1) goaltender interference and (2) offside plays. The
video review process and all decisions on goals where goaltender interference may have occurred will be the responsibility of the Referees at ice level, in consultation with the NHL’s Situation Room in Toronto;
similarly, goals that may have resulted from an offside play will be reviewed and determined by the on-ice officials, in consultation with the NHL's Situation Room in Toronto. In order for a coach to make a challenge,
the team must have its timeout available.

Friday, June 05, 2015

One of the major news stories making the rounds the last couple of days is that Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Mike Reilly is being courted by nine NHL teams.

The Minnesota Wild are one of the teams that are included on the list of teams in pursuit. I read multiple twitter stories and a couple of blog posts that said that the Chicago Blackhawks were tops on Reilly's list. Russo also confirmed this in a blog post, too.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

So far, the First round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs has been pretty fun to watch. Last night's games in Calgary and Chicago were top notch. The Saddle Dome in Calgary was rocking as the Calgary Flames advanced to the second round for the first time since 2004.

The action on the ice has been fantastic. Taking a look at my 2015 Stanely Cup picks, my favorite to win the Stanley Cup is on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings have given the Lightnings fits and they haven't allowed them to generate offense. The Red Wings also have gotten good goaltending from Petr Mrazek (3-2, 1.92 GAA, .937 SV%). Mrazek also has two shutouts.

For comparison sake, Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk is (3-2, 2.61 GAA, .898 SV%). The Wild can look to end that series this afternoon.

Friday, April 24, 2015

This has become a subject of much discussion on twitter the past couple of night. Games aren't starting on time, games for central time zones are an hour and a half later than usual.

First NBC has done us a favor by having all of the game on during the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a second year in a row. For that, most of us are thankful. There's been some really good hockey during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Unfortunately, there’s has been some really late night hockey games. Hopefully, that will change during the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs when there are fewer games on.

Dan Caesar, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – And because of television, fans of several teams in the Central time zone also have been subject to games that are scheduled to start 90 minutes later than is the norm in the regular season — 8:30 p.m. instead of 7 o’clock. Three contests in the Blues-Wild series have been tabbed for that inconvenient time. The reason: The networks often show an earlier game and hope it will end before the later contest begins. But that 8:30 “start” time isn’t really when the game begins.

The opening faceoff for a weeknight game last week in St. Louis was 8:40. And Wednesday in Minnesota it was 8:45 p.m.

The worst case occurred Tuesday in Chicago, where the Blackhawks’ contest with Nashville didn’t start until 8:45 — 15 minutes after the listed time. The game wasn’t decided until the third overtime period and ended at 1:16 a.m. A normal start of shortly after 7 p.m. would have had that ending about 11:15 p.m. — much more palatable for fans who still had to get home and to bed before getting up for normal weekday activities a few hours later.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

It's the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and on the opening night there's already some controversy.

At the 8:23 mark of the second period, Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for slashing Mark Stone. Some have said that the slash was weak and Stone embellished the call. I don't know. Stone suffered a microfracture on the play.

The Senators want Subban to be suspended for his slash on Stone and the Senators head coach Dave Cameron had some interesting things to say after the game.

Failing that, Cameron warned darkly, his team might have to inflict its own brand of justice on the Canadiens.
“I think it’s quite simple,” Cameron said. “It’s a vicious slash on an unprotected part of his body and you either do one of two things. I think it’s an easy solution: You either suspend him or one of their best players gets slashed and you just give us five. It’s not that complicated.”
Those are fighting words – literally, if Chris Neil dresses for Game 2. (Habs Inside Out)

Subban with a big chop on Stone that gets him 5 minutes and tossed from the game. The #Sens will have 5-on-3 for 1:51. #GoSensGo
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) April 16, 2015

Injury update: #Sens Mark Stone has suffered a microfracture of his right wrist & his availability for the series is unknown at this time.
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) April 16, 2015

According to the NHL, Subban will not be suspended for his hit on Stone.

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

This is the last week of hockey in the NHL. The Frozen Four kicks off this weekend. There's a lot of hockey news breaking.

The NHL’s 2014-15 regular season is over this weekend. Apparently, Ron MacLean has fallen out of favor with Rogers Sport Ca.

David Shoalts, the Globe and Mail -- The start of the NHL playoffs next week will likely bring a significant change for television viewers. For the first time in 28 years, Ron MacLean is not scheduled to be in a host’s chair for any of the first-round series. MacLean will only be seen in his role as Don Cherry’s sidekick on Coach’s Corner, although the plan is to have the popular duo on the air almost every night.

When Rogers Communications Inc. wrested the Canadian national broadcast rights away from the CBC and TSN before this season, MacLean was replaced as the main Hockey Night In Canada host by George Stroumboulopoulos. MacLean retained his role with Cherry, but his host duties were confined to Rogers Hometown Hockey broadcasts on Sunday nights on the Sportsnet and City networks. Hometown Hockey wrapped for the season last Sunday.

Devan Dubnyk has been likely the most inspiring story in the NHL this year. After a disastrous 2013-14 season, Dubnyk’s NHL career looked to be coming to an end, however, since being given an opportunity with Arizona and now Minnesota, Devan has established himself as one of the top goaltenders in the NHL today.

Like Soderberg, Dubnyk is also in an interesting situation. Prior to this season, Dubnyk struggled to say the least, making it difficult for a club to reward Dubnyk for one stellar season amid a career of inconsistency.

At the age of 28, Dubnyk has a ton of hockey ahead of him, while his current cap hit of 378K with the Wild, per conditions of his trade from Arizona, make Dubnyk the best bargain in the NHL. His 2014-15 contract, which pays 800K in total, is likely much less than the Wild or any other team will be willing to pay Devan for his services.

Considering Minnesota’s lack of goaltending options, the Wild will likely retain Dubnyk with a one to two year contract, as despite his stellar play this year, it’s hard to see a large number of NHL teams bidding for Dubnyk’s inconsistent services.

Saturday, April 04, 2015

Recently, I had this discussion with a friend of mine. His argument was, if you want to increase scoring, the refs need to blow the whistle more. If you think about this, it sounds like a simple solution.

Basically, in a nutshell, it would appear that the number of penalties being called on the ice in the NHL are down this season.

Brett Cyrgalis, New York Post – So many games I’ve seen this year have devolved into something out of Jacques Lemaire’s Devils playbook. And you know who does about as well at it as anyone? Those fast-paced Rangers. That one-goal lead they held in the third period Thursday night against the Wild — there was no chance they were letting that slip away, because there was no chance they were letting Minnesota players get out of arm’s reach. Dump it in, get a third man high, clog the neutral zone, double-team in corners — and if someone happens to get a good look, let it be one-on-one with the goalie.

Snip

Yes, there are other factors in why scoring is so low. The goalie equipment is huge, and the nets are the same size. The talent pool is now fully international, and the teams are deeper.

But if the league wants more scoring — which you would think it does — they have to start with the officiating. And it’s too late now, the regular season is practically over, and the new version of officiating is about to take effect

What do you think? There may be something to the argument. This season, there’s not one player close to scoring 100 points. The NHL only has five players that have a shot a making 80 points. Currently, only Sidney Crosby has scored (26g-54a—80pts).

Friday, February 06, 2015

Here's a great article that I found in the Globe and Mail. Obviously, this article is written from the perspective of a Hab's writer, but it’s still worth the read. That being said, I do think that Hab’s and P.K. Subban have earned the reputation of being divers. They’re not the only ones, either.

There is an irony to the Subban decision.

In one of the incidents cited on his rap sheet, he was zestily pitchforked in the nether bits by noted miscreant Brad Marchand of Boston. In the second, he fell while turning away on one skate after a light crosscheck from behind by Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers.

Kreider took vigorous exception to Subban falling over, which can happen when ice and skates are involved. Perhaps he would have been more understanding if Subban had barrelled into a goaltender while losing his footing, as Kreider does with alarming regularity.

Neither example is egregious, but trust the NHL and its officials to miss a truly objectionable bit of poor sportsmanship from Subban last month, when he literally dived to the ice after being tripped by Tampa Bay’s Jason Garrison.

Some of the received hockey wisdom about Subban is deserved; he occasionally exaggerates in order to influence the refs (he does it far less than in the past). This does not differentiate him from his peers. (Globe and Mail)

Friday, January 09, 2015

After a December to forget, the Minnesota Wild still are carrying their struggles into the new year after two more losses to San Jose and Chicago. One may think it is time to make some kind of change, but where that is the question?

You can first point the finger at the goaltending as of late. Between Darcy Kuemper and Niklas Backstrom, the two have combined for the second worst save percentage in the entire NHL. Whether they find a goalie through free agency, or they make a trade for one, and hopefully soon, the goalies need to step up, or step back for some new blood in the line up. What they are doing now does not seem to be working too well.

What options are available you might ask? Two goalies come to mind right away for me. James Reimer out of Toronto and Cam Ward out of Carolina. Both of these goalies are proven number one goalies and both would not be that expensive to get either. Also don't forget that Cam Ward is a Stanley Cup winner as well.

One can not forget about Anti Raanta in Chicago either. Corey Crawford is the solid number one there and Raanta is nearing the end of his contract. His .944 save percentage might just be what the Minnesota Wild need in the blue paint to make that push for the playoffs.

A big defenseman is also something that needs to be looked at in the Wild line-up as well. This is a team that lacks grit and a physical presence throughout the line-up, but who to get, that's the other question?

Both Mike Greene out of Washington and Paul Martin out of Pittsburgh are UFA's at the end of the upcoming season and both would be a solid veteran presence on the blue line for the stretch run. Aside from that, there really is not much to expect from a possible trade stand point as of right now to address the lack of veteran presence on the blue line for the Wild.

Finally, the lack of chemistry throughout the forward line-up seems to be a big issue as well. Thomas Vanek can not seem to click with anyone, making his signing seem like one that was wasted by the franchise. Also Jason Pominville can not seem to get going this season either. Now I don't know what happened, but for as talented as the forward roster is, you would think goals would be coming a bit easier than what they are getting right now.

Something needs to change, and very fast for this struggling Minnesota Wild team, or it is gonna leave many experts, and fans alike frustrated, and scratching their heads because this is a team that should easily make the playoffs this season, but are a team that probably will not as of right now.

Friday, December 26, 2014

I like the new overtime rule that the American Hockey League is using. Apparently, the fans seem to like it and the new rule is generating a lot of attention. It will be interesting to see if the NHL adopts this rule.

But here's how the extra period works on the AHL level: It's seven minutes long - or until someone scores, of course - with the opening three minutes 4-on-4. Then, after the next whistle, it switches to 3-on-3 for the last four, leading to lots of room for creativity and scoring chances. If that doesn't decide things, it goes to a shootout, a concept that drives many a coach bonkers since it's almost like a skills competition.

That's the thing, though. This new overtime system has cut down significantly on shootouts.

Last year, the AHL had 65 percent of its OT games decided in a shootout, Andrews said. This season, it's shrunk to 25 percent.

Even more, of the 99 overtime games so far, 35 of them have been decided in 3-on-3 action.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Last night, Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Radko Gudas took out Florida Panthers forward Scottie Upshall with this questionable, high hit. The hit happened during the second period.

Today, it was announced that Gudas will not face a hearing for this hit. Obviously, not every hit si going to result in a hearing or a suspension.

Looking at the hit, it appears to be a violation of the NHl's rule 48. Thoughts?

48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was avoidable, can be considered.

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Here's a good read about US college hockey and the percentage of former college hockey players that end up in the NHL.

Ryan O'Leary Campus Calling -- Once seen as an “also ran” when compared to other NHL feeder systems (the CHL and Europe to be specific), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) hockey, whose season starts up this month, is becoming a premier destination for young hockey talent and one of the largest pipelines directly to the pro ranks.

According to College Hockey Inc., a record 305-college alum played in the NHL during the 2013-14 season – equating to 31% of league personnel. That’s 11% more former NCAA players in the NHL compared to the year 2000.

The recently held 2014 NHL Entry Draft featured 65 U.S. born players, the most since 1991 (67), of which 47 are currently playing NCAA Hockey or are committed to play at a college or university in the future.

In fact, College Hockey Inc. reports that NHL Drafts have featured at least 60 current or future college players for 13 years consecutively.